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Letter
LXXVII. To Oceanus.
The eulogy of Fabiola whose restless life had come to an
end in 399 a.d. Jerome tells the story of her
sin and of her penitence (for which see Letter LV.), of the hospital
established by her at Portus, of her visit to Bethlehem, and of her
earnestness in the study of scripture. He relates how he wrote for her
his account of the vestments of the high priest (Letter LXIV.) and how
at the time of her death he was at her request engaged upon a
commentary on the forty-two halting-places of the Israelites in the
wilderness (Letter LXXIX.). This last he now sends along with this
letter to Oceanus. Jerome also bestows praise upon Pammachius as the
companion of all Fabiola’s labours. The date of the letter is 399
a.d.
1. Several years
since I consoled the venerated Paula, whilst her affliction was still
recent for the falling asleep of Blæsilla.2322
Four summers ago I wrote for the bishop
Heliodorus the epitaph of Nepotian, and expended what ability I
possessed in giving expression to my grief at his loss.2323
Only two years have elapsed since I
sent a brief letter to my dear Pammachius on the sudden flitting of his
Paulina.2324
I blushed to say more to one so
learned or to give him back his own thoughts: lest I should seem less
the consoler of a friend than the officious instructor of one already
perfect. But now, Oceanus my son, the duty that you lay upon me is one
that I gladly accept and would even seek unasked. For when new virtues
have to be dealt with, an old subject itself becomes new. In previous
cases I have had to soften and restrain a mother’s affection, an
uncle’s grief, and a husband’s yearning; according to the
different requirements of each I have had to apply from scripture
different remedies.
2. To-day you give me as my theme Fabiola, the praise of
the Christians, the marvel of the gentiles, the sorrow of the poor, and
the consolation of the monks. Whatever point in her character I choose
to treat of first, pales into insignificance compared with those which
follow after. Shall I praise her fasts? Her alms are greater still.
Shall I commend her lowliness? The glow of her faith is yet brighter.
Shall I mention her studied plainness in dress, her voluntary choice of
plebeian costume and the garb of a slave that she might put to shame
silken robes? To change one’s disposition is a greater
achievement than to change one’s dress. It is harder for us to
part with arrogance than with gold and gems. For, even though we throw
away these, we plume ourselves sometimes on a meanness that is really
ostentatious, and we make a bid with a saleable poverty for the popular
applause. But a virtue that seeks concealment and is cherished in the
inner consciousness appeals to no judgement but that of God. Thus the
eulogies which I have to bestow upon Fabiola will be altogether new: I
must neglect the order of the rhetoricians and begin all I have to say
only from the cradle of her conversion and of her penitence. Another
writer, mindful of the school, would perhaps bring forward Quintus
Maximus, “the man who by delaying rescued Rome,”2325
and the whole Fabian family; he would
describe their struggles and battles and would exult that Fabiola had
come to us through a line so noble, shewing that qualities not apparent
in the branch still existed in the root. But as I am a lover of the inn
at Bethlehem and of the Lord’s stable in which the virgin
travailed with and gave birth to an infant God, I shall deduce the
lineage of Christ’s handmaid not from a stock famous in history
but from the lowliness of the church.
3. And because at the very outset there is a rock in the
path and she is overwhelmed by a storm of censure, for having forsaken
her first husband and having taken a second, I will not praise her for
her conversion till I have first cleared her of this charge. So
terrible then were the faults imputed to her former husband that not
even a prostitute or a common slave could have put up with them. If I
were to recount them, I should undo the heroism of the wife who chose
to bear the blame of a separation rather than to blacken the character
and expose the stains of him who was one body with her. I will only
urge this one plea which is sufficient to exonerate a chaste matron and
a Christian woman. The Lord has given commandment that a wife must not
be put away “except it be for fornication, and that, if put away,
she must remain unmarried.”2326
Now a
commandment which is given to men logically applies to women also. For
it cannot be that, while an adulterous wife is to be put away, an
incontinent husband is to be retained. The apostle says: “he
which is joined to an harlot is one body.”2327
Therefore she also who is joined to a
whoremonger and unchaste person is made one body with him. The laws of
Cæsar are different, it is true, from the laws of Christ:
Papinianus2328
| 2328 A Roman jurist
of great renown who held high legal office first under Marcus Aurelius
and afterwards under Severus. He was put to death by Caracalla. | commands one thing; our own
Paul another. Earthly laws give a free rein to the unchastity of men,
merely condemning seduction and adultery; lust is allowed to range
unrestrained among brothels and slave girls, as if the guilt were
constituted by the rank of the person assailed and not by the purpose
of the assailant. But with us Christians what is unlawful for women is
equally unlawful for men, and as both serve the same God both are bound
by the same obligations. Fabiola then has put away—they are quite
right—a husband that was a sinner, guilty of this and that crime,
sins—I have almost mentioned their names—with which the
whole neighbourhood resounded but which the wife alone refused to
disclose. If however it is made a charge against her that after
repudiating her husband she did not continue unmarried, I readily admit
this to have been a fault, but at the same time declare that it may
have been a case of necessity. “It is better,” the apostle
tells us, “to marry than to burn.”2329
She was quite a young woman, she was not able to continue in
widowhood. In the words of the apostle she saw another law in her
members warring against the law of her mind;2330
she felt herself dragged in chains as a
captive towards the indulgences of wedlock. Therefore she thought it
better openly to confess her weakness and to accept the semblance of an
unhappy marriage than, with the name of a monogamist, to ply the trade
of a courtesan. The same apostle wills that the younger widows should
marry, bear children, and give no occasion to the adversary to speak
reproachfully.2331
And he at once
goes on to explain his wish: “for some are already turned aside
after Satan.”2332
Fabiola
therefore was fully persuaded in her own mind: she thought she had
acted legitimately in putting away her husband, and that when she had
done so she was free to marry again. She did not know that the rigour
of the gospel takes away from women all pretexts for re-marriage so
long as their former husbands are alive; and not knowing this, though
she contrived to evade other assaults of the devil, she at this point
unwittingly exposed herself to a wound from him.
4. But why do I linger over old and forgotten matters,
seeking to excuse a fault for which Fabiola has herself confessed her
penitence? Who would believe that, after the death of her second
husband at a time when most widows, having shaken off the yoke of
servitude, grow careless and allow themselves more liberty than ever,
frequenting the baths, flitting through the streets, shewing their
harlot faces everywhere; that at this time Fabiola came to herself? Yet
it was then that she put on sackcloth to make public confession of her
error. It was then that in the presence of all Rome (in the basilica
which formerly belonged to that Lateranus who perished by the sword of
Cæsar2333
| 2333 A senator who
having conspired against Nero was by that emperor put to death. His
palace on the Ælian Hill was long afterwards bestowed by
Constantine upon pope Silvester who made it a church which it has ever
since remained. | ) she stood in the ranks of the
penitents and exposed before bishop, presbyters, and people—all
of whom wept when they saw her weep—her dishevelled hair, pale
features, soiled hands and unwashed neck. What sins would such a
penance fail to purge away? What ingrained stains would such tears be
unable to wash out? By a threefold confession Peter blotted out his
threefold denial.2334
If Aaron
committed sacrilege by fashioning molten gold into the head of a calf,
his brother’s prayers made amends for his transgressions.2335
If holy David, meekest of men,
committed the double sin of murder and adultery, he atoned for it by a
fast of seven days. He lay upon the earth, he rolled in the ashes, he
forgot his royal power, he sought for light in the darkness.2336
And then, turning his eyes to that God
whom he had so deeply offended, he cried with a lamentable voice:
“Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in
thy sight,” and “Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation
and uphold me with thy free spirit.”2337
He who by his virtues teaches me how
to stand and not to fall, by his penitence teaches me how, if I fall, I
may rise again. Among the kings do we read of any so wicked as Ahab, of
whom the scripture says: “there was none like unto Ahab which did
sell himself to work wickedness in the sight of the Lord”?2338
For shedding Naboth’s blood
Elijah rebuked him, and the prophet denounced God’s wrath against
him: “Hast thou killed and also taken possession?…behold I
will bring evil upon thee and will take away thy posterity”2339
and so on. Yet when Ahab heard these
words “he rent his clothes, and put sackcloth upon his flesh, and
fasted…in sackcloth, and went softly.”2340
Then came the word of God to Elijah the
Tishbite saying: “Seest thou how Ahab humbleth himself before me?
Because he humbleth himself before me, I will not bring the evil in his
days.”2341
O happy penitence which has drawn
down upon itself the eyes of God, and which has by confessing its error
changed the sentence of God’s anger! The same conduct is in the
Chronicles2342
attributed to Manasseh, and in
the book of the prophet Jonah2343
to Nineveh,
and in the gospel to the publican.2344
The first
of these not only was allowed to obtain forgiveness but also recovered
his kingdom, the second broke the force of God’s impending wrath,
while the third, smiting his breast with his hands, “would not
lift up so much as his eyes to heaven.” Yet for all that the
publican with his humble confession of his faults went back justified
far more than the Pharisee with his arrogant boasting of his virtues.
This is not however the place to preach penitence, neither am I writing
against Montanus and Novatus.2345
| 2345 Rigourists who
denied the power of the Church to absolve persons who had fallen into
sin. | Else would I
say of it that it is “a sacrifice…well pleasing to
God,”2346
I would cite the words of the
psalmist: “the sacrifices of God are a broken spirit,”2347
and those of Ezekiel “I prefer
the repentance of a sinner rather than his death,”2348
and those of Baruch, “Arise,
arise, O Jerusalem,”2349
and many other
proclamations made by the trumpets of the prophets.
5. But this one
thing I will say, for it is at once useful to my readers and pertinent
to my present theme. As Fabiola was not ashamed of the Lord on earth,
so He shall not be ashamed of her in heaven.2350
She laid bare her wound to the gaze of all, and Rome beheld with tears
the disfiguring scar which marred her beauty. She uncovered her limbs,
bared her head, and closed her mouth. She no longer entered the church
of God but, like Miriam the sister of Moses,2351
she sat apart without the camp, till the priest who had cast her out
should himself call her back. She came down like the daughter of
Babylon from the throne of her daintiness, she took the millstones and
ground meal, she passed barefooted through rivers of tears.2352
She sat upon the coals of fire, and
these became her aid.2353
That face by
which she had once pleased her second husband she now smote with blows;
she hated jewels, shunned ornaments and could not bear to look upon
fine linen.2354
In fact she bewailed the sin she
had committed as bitterly as if it had been adultery, and went to the
expense of many remedies in her eagerness to cure her one wound.
6. Having found myself aground in the shallows of
Fabiola’s sin, I have dwelt thus long upon her penitence in order
that I might open up a larger and quite unimpeded space for the
description of her praises. Restored to communion before the eyes of
the whole church, what did she do? In the day of prosperity she was not
forgetful of affliction;2355
and, having once
suffered shipwreck she was unwilling again to face the risks of the
sea. Instead therefore of re-embarking on her old life, she broke up2356
| 2356 Dilapidare, vendre
pierre à pierre—Goelzer. | and sold all that she could lay hands on
of her property (it was large and suitable to her rank), and turning it
into money she laid out this for the benefit of the poor. She was the
first person to found a hospital, into which she might gather sufferers
out of the streets, and where she might nurse the unfortunate victims
of sickness and want. Need I now recount the various ailments of human
beings? Need I speak of noses slit, eyes put out, feet half burnt,
hands covered with sores? Or of limbs dropsical and atrophied? Or of
diseased flesh alive with worms? Often did she carry on her own
shoulders persons infected with jaundice or with filth. Often too did
she wash away the matter discharged from wounds which others, even
though men, could not bear to look at. She gave food to her patients
with her own hand, and moistened the scarce breathing lips of the dying
with sips of liquid. I know of many wealthy and devout persons who,
unable to overcome their natural repugnance to such sights, perform
this work of mercy by the agency of others, giving money instead of
personal aid. I do not blame them and am far from construing their
weakness of resolution into a want of faith. While however I pardon
such squeamishness, I extol to the skies the enthusiastic zeal of a
mind that is above it. A great faith makes little of such trifles. But
I know how terrible was the retribution which fell upon the proud mind
of the rich man clothed in purple for not having helped Lazarus.2357
The poor wretch whom we despise, whom
we cannot so much as look at, and the very sight of whom turns our
stomachs, is human like ourselves, is made of the same clay as we are,
is formed out of the same elements. All that he suffers we too may
suffer. Let us then regard his wounds as though they were our own, and
then all our insensibility to another’s suffering will give way
before our pity for ourselves.
Not with a hundred tongues or throat of bronze
Could I exhaust the forms of fell disease2358
| 2358 Virg. Æn.
vi. 625–627. |
which Fabiola so wonderfully alleviated in the suffering poor that
many of the healthy fell to envying the sick. However she showed the
same liberality towards the clergy and monks and virgins. Was there a
monastery which was not supported by Fabiola’s wealth? Was there
a naked or bedridden person who was not clothed with garments supplied
by her? Were there ever any in want to whom she failed to give a quick
and unhesitating supply? Even Rome was not wide enough for her pity.
Either in her own person or else through the agency of reverend and
trustworthy men she went from island to island and carried her bounty
not only round the Etruscan Sea, but throughout the district of the
Volscians, as it stands along those secluded and winding shores where
communities of monks are to be found.
7. Suddenly she made up her mind, against the advice of
all her friends, to take ship and to come to Jerusalem. Here she was
welcomed by a large concourse of people and for a short time took
advantage of my hospitality. Indeed, when I call to mind our meeting, I
seem to see her here now instead of in the past. Blessed Jesus, what
zeal, what earnestness she bestowed upon the sacred volumes! In her
eagerness to satisfy what was a veritable craving she would run through
Prophets, Gospels, and Psalms: she would suggest questions and treasure
up the answers in the desk of her own bosom. And yet this eagerness to hear did not bring with it any
feeling of satiety: increasing her knowledge she also increased her
sorrow,2359
and by casting oil upon the flame
she did but supply fuel for a still more burning zeal. One day we had
before us the book of Numbers written by Moses, and she modestly
questioned me as to the meaning of the great mass of names there to be
found. Why was it, she inquired, that single tribes were differently
associated in this passage and in that, how came it that the soothsayer
Balaam in prophesying of the future mysteries of Christ2360
spoke more plainly of Him than almost any
other prophet? I replied as best I could and tried to satisfy her
enquiries. Then unrolling the book still farther she came to the
passage2361
in which is given the list of all
the halting-places by which the people after leaving Egypt made its way
to the waters of Jordan. And when she asked me the meaning and reason
of each of these, I spoke doubtfully about some, dealt with others in a
tone of assurance, and in several instances simply confessed my
ignorance. Hereupon she began to press me harder still, expostulating
with me as though it were a thing unallowable that I should be ignorant
of what I did not know, yet at the same time affirming her own
unworthiness to understand mysteries so deep. In a word I was ashamed
to refuse her request and allowed her to extort from me a promise that
I would devote a special work to this subject for her use. Till the
present time I have had to defer the fulfilment of my promise: as I now
perceive, by the Will of God in order that it should be consecrated to
her memory. As in a previous work2362
I clothed
her with the priestly vestments, so in the pages of the present2363
she may rejoice that she has passed
through the wilderness of this world and has come at last to the land
of promise.
8. But let me continue the task which I have begun.
Whilst I was in search of a suitable dwelling for so great a lady,
whose only conception of the solitary life included a place of resort
like Mary’s inn; suddenly messengers flew this way and that and
the whole East was terror-struck. For news came that the hordes of the
Huns had poured forth all the way from Mæotis2364
(they had their haunts between the icy
Tanais2365
and the rude Massagetæ2366
| 2366 An Asiatic tribe
to the East of the Caspian Sea. | where the gates of Alexander keep back
the wild peoples behind the Caucasus); and that, speeding hither and
thither on their nimble-footed horses, they were filling all the world
with panic and bloodshed. The Roman army was absent at the time, being
detained in Italy on account of the civil wars. Of these Huns
Herodotus2367
| 2367 Hdt. i. 106, (of
the Scythians). | tells us that under Darius King
of the Medes they held the East in bondage for twenty years and that
from the Egyptians and Ethiopians they exacted a yearly tribute. May
Jesus avert from the Roman world the farther assaults of these wild
beasts! Everywhere their approach was unexpected, they outstripped
rumour in speed, and, when they came, they spared neither religion nor
rank nor age, even for wailing infants they had no pity. Children were
forced to die before it could be said that they had begun to live; and
little ones not realizing their miserable fate might be seen smiling in
the hands and at the weapons of their enemies. It was generally agreed
that the goal of the invaders was Jerusalem and that it was their
excessive desire for gold which made them hasten to this particular
city. Its walls uncared for in time of peace were accordingly put in
repair. Antioch was in a state of siege. Tyre, desirous of cutting
itself off from the land, sought once more its ancient island. We too
were compelled to man our ships and to lie off the shore as a
precaution against the arrival of our foes. No matter how hard the
winds might blow, we could not but dread the barbarians more than
shipwreck. It was not, however, so much for our own safety that we were
anxious as for the chastity of the virgins who were with us. Just at
that time also there was dissension among us,2368
| 2368 The Origenistic
controversy in which Jerome, Paula and Epiphanius took one side, John
bishop of Jerusalem, Rufinus, and Melania the other. | and our intestine struggles threw
into the shade our battle with the barbarians. I myself clung to my
long-settled abode in the East and gave way to my deep-seated love for
the holy places. Fabiola, used as she was to moving from city to city
and having no other property but what her baggage contained, returned
to her native land; to live in poverty where she had once been rich, to
lodge in the house of another, she who in old days had lodged many
guests in her own, and—not unduly to prolong my account—to
bestow upon the poor before the eyes of Rome the proceeds of that
property which Rome knew her to have sold.
9. This only do I lament that in her the holy places
lost a necklace of the loveliest. Rome recovered what it had previously
parted with, and the wanton and slanderous tongues of the heathen were
confuted by the testimony of their own eyes. Others may commend her
pity, her humility, her faith: I will rather praise her ardour of soul.
The letter2369
in which as a young man I once
urged Heliodorus to the life of a hermit she knew by heart, and whenever she looked upon the walls of
Rome she complained that she was in a prison. Forgetful of her sex,
unmindful of her frailty, and only desiring to be alone she was in fact
there2370
| 2370 i.e. in the
desert where many women lived as solitaries. | where her soul lingered. The counsels of
her friends could not hold her back; so eager was she to burst from the
city as from a place of bondage. Nor did she leave the distribution of
her alms to others; she distributed them herself. Her wish was that,
after equitably dispensing her money to the poor, she might herself
find support from others for the sake of Christ. In such haste was she
and so impatient of delay that you would fancy her on the eve of her
departure. As she was always ready, death could not find her
unprepared.
10. As I pen her praises, my dear Pammachius seems
suddenly to rise before me. His wife Paulina sleeps that he may keep
vigil; she has gone before her husband that he remaining behind may be
Christ’s servant. Although he was his wife’s heir,
others—I mean the poor—are now in possession of his
inheritance. He and Fabiola contended for the privilege of setting up a
tent like that of Abraham2371
at Portus. The
contest which arose between them was for the supremacy in shewing
kindness. Each conquered and each was overcome. Both admitted
themselves to be at once victors and vanquished for what each had
desired to effect alone both accomplished together. They united their
resources and combined their plans that harmony might forward what
rivalry must have brought to nought. No sooner was the scheme broached
than it was carried out. A house was purchased to serve as a shelter,
and a crowd flocked into it. “There was no more travail in Jacob
nor distress in Israel.”2372
The seas
carried voyagers to find a welcome here on landing. Travellers left
Rome in haste to take advantage of the mild coast before setting sail.
What Publius once did in the island of Malta for one apostle
and—not to leave room for gainsaying—for a single
ship’s crew,2373
Fabiola and
Pammachius have done over and over again for large numbers; and not
only have they supplied the wants of the destitute, but so universal
has been their munificence that they have provided additional means for
those who have something already. The whole world knows that a home for
strangers has been established at Portus; and Britain has learned in
the summer what Egypt and Parthia knew in the spring.
11. In the death of this noble lady we have seen a
fulfilment of the apostle’s words:—“All things work
together for good to them that fear God.”2374
Having a presentiment of what would
happen, she had written to several monks to come and release her from
the burthen under which she laboured;2375
for she wished to make to herself
friends of the mammon of unrighteousness that they might receive her
into everlasting habitations.2376
They came to
her and she made them her friends; she fell asleep in the way that she
had wished, and having at last laid aside her burthen she soared more
lightly up to heaven. How great a marvel Fabiola had been to Rome while
she lived came out in the behaviour of the people now that she was
dead. Hardly had she breathed her last breath, hardly had she given
back her soul to Christ whose it was when
Flying Rumour heralding the woe2377
gathered the entire city to attend her obsequies. Psalms
were chaunted and the gilded ceilings of the temples were shaken with
uplifted shouts of Alleluia.
The choirs of young and old extolled her deeds
And sang the praises of her holy soul.2378
| 2378 Virg. A. viii.
287, 288. |
Her triumph was more glorious far than those won by Furius over the
Gauls, by Papirius over the Samnites, by Scipio over Numantia, by
Pompey over Pontus. They had conquered physical force, she had mastered
spiritual iniquities.2379
I seem to
hear even now the squadrons which led the van of the procession, and
the sound of the feet of the multitude which thronged in thousands to
attend her funeral. The streets, porches, and roofs from which a view
could be obtained were inadequate to accommodate the spectators. On
that day Rome saw all her peoples gathered together in one, and each
person present flattered himself that he had some part in the glory of
her penitence. No wonder indeed that men should thus exult in the
salvation of one at whose conversion there was joy among the angels in
heaven.2380
12. I give you this, Fabiola,2381
| 2381 i.e.
Letter LXXVIII. q. v. | the best gift of my aged powers, to be
as it were a funeral offering. Oftentimes have I praised virgins and
widows and married women who have kept their garments always white2382
and who follow the Lamb whithersoever
He goeth.2383
Happy indeed is she in her
encomium who throughout her life has been stained by no defilement. But
let envy depart and censoriousness be silent. If the father of the
house is good why should our eye be evil?2384
The soul which fell among thieves has
been carried home upon the
shoulders of Christ.2385
In our
father’s house are many mansions.2386
Where sin hath abounded, grace hath
much more abounded.2387
To whom
more is forgiven the same loveth more.2388
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